Crying Out For Help
by tswiftfan
Summary: Olivia saw right through her act. She saw the fear that was behind those cloudy eyes. She knew she was crying out for help. But the question was....would she admit it to herself? My first story....any and all reviews are appreciated
1. Chapter 1

Law and Order: SVU

Crying Out for Help

Chapter 1

Things were quiet around the SVU squad room. Munch was discussing his latest conspiracies with Fin. Olivia was finishing up some paperwork that she had unfortunately let back up. Eliot had the day off to spend with his family.

As Olivia closed her last folder she sighed in relief.

"Finally! I get to go home and get a proper night's sleep," she thought to herself.

Just she was gathering her things to go home, Captain Cregan burst through his office door.

"Olivia!"

"Yeah Cap?"

"You can't go home just yet. I need you to go investigate a call we just received. A woman called saying she heard a girl's screams coming from her neighbor's apartment and called the police. The police at the scene suspect that something happened that require our….expertise, so I want you to go check it out."

"Ok," she said with as little enthusiasm as possible.

She got into her car and drove towards the address, not knowing how much of an impact this trip will make in her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Olivia walked up the stairs until she reached the 6th floor, slightly panting and silently scolding herself for not joining that gym a month ago. A group of police officers greeted her as she got to the apartment in question.

"I'm Detective Olivia Benson, SVU. What seems to be going on here?"

"Well we received a call from a Mrs. Edwards. He said that she heard a girl screaming from the apartment next to hers and believed someone was being hurt."

"May I speak with her please?"

"Yes of course. Mrs. Edwards?"

A skinny, middle-aged woman with short brown hair stepped out of the gang of officers. She was clad in a pink bathrobe, along with matching slippers and hair curlers.

"Hello Mrs. Edwards, I'm Detective Benson. Can you tell me exactly what you heard tonight?"

"Well, I was just sitting in my living room watching T.V. when I suddenly heard screaming. It sounded like a woman. I popped my head out my door and realized that the screaming was coming from the apartment next to mine, the Sullivans. I knew they have a teenage daughter so at first I thought that it was just some of her friends being obnoxious. Then I heard the voice scream 'NO, STOP! PLEASE…YOU'RE HURTING ME! NO DON'T PLEASE….NO!!!' That's when I knew something was wrong so I called the police immediately."

"Did you hear or see anything else Mrs. Edwards?"

"No, just the screaming."

"How well do you know the Sullivans?"

"Well enough for neighbors. Mrs. Sullivan moved into the building with her daughter Emily a few years back. She got married to her boyfriend last year. His name is Sean. They seem like a perfectly nice people. Emily is a sweetheart…always offering to help me with groceries up those horrible stairs. That's why when I heard that screaming I got so worried and called you guys."

"Well you did the right thing. Thank you for all your help and if you remember anything else, please call me."

"Of course."

Olivia had been furiously scribbling down everything that Mrs. Edwards had told her. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that informed her that she would not be getting any sleep that night, no matter how hard she tried. She finished up her notes and turned to towards the Sullivans' apartment. She took a deep breath and, not knowing what awaited her inside, stepped through the threshold.


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia quickly scanned the inside of the apartment with her detail-seeking eyes. The apartment was a moderate size. It had a well-equipped kitchen, with the lingering smell of some sort of chicken dinner which was like heaven to her. She saw that there were 2 rooms branching off from the main living room. Standing in the middle of the room was a man and a woman, both of which were speaking with a police officer. The woman was a petite 5'5 brunette who looked so exhausted that she could have fallen asleep right where she was. Olivia also noticed her scrubs, indicating that she work at some sort of hospital. The man, on the other hand, was a very intimidating 6'1 with short blonde hair. He had a look in his eyes that sent a shiver up Olivia's spine. She honestly believed that if he tried, he could probably snap her in half like a twig, without even breaking a sweat.

She made her way over to the couple and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Detective Olivia Benson…are you the Sullivans?"

The woman immediately turned her attention to the female detective.

"Yes, hi I'm Ann Sullivan, and this is my husband Sean. Sorry I'm still confused on why you are all here. I was on call tonight as the emergency surgeon at the hospital when Sean called me telling me to come home. What happened?"

"Well Mrs. Sullivan, your neighbor Mrs. Edwards called to police reporting that there was screaming coming from your apartment. She thought that someone was being attacked. Who was home tonight?"

"Well I was working so just Sean and my daughter Emily."

Olivia instantly got a knot in her stomach. The daughter had been alone in the apartment with her step-father. Sean had not said a word, but there was definitely an angry vibe coming from him. He clearly didn't want any of these people here, especially Olivia. She now looked at him and his cold eyes in order to try and figure out what he was telling before talking with Emily.

"So Mr. Sullivan, you were alone with your step-daughter tonight?"

"Yes, yes I was."

"Did you hear the reported screaming?"

"No I didn't. I don't know what that old bag next door is talking about. She has shitty hearing as it is. She is always being a nosy bitch and involved in everything that goes on in this whole damn apartment!"

Olivia was taken aback. She had somewhat expected him to be defensive when she began questioning (most fathers are when they are being accused of hurting their daughter), but she was unprepared for the lashing she had just got about the kind old woman she met 3 minutes ago.

Ann immediately gasped and put her hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to calm down somewhat.

"I'm sorry; he has had a long and stressful day. His boss has been giving him a lot of trouble lately and he can sometimes vent his anger towards his boss on someone else."

Sean instantly chimed in, "Yeah sorry about that."

"Oh, that's alright," Olivia lied, "Now I was wondering if I could talk with Emily?"

"Why? What do you need to ask her, I've just told you I didn't hear anything," Sean said rather abruptly, a sign Olivia took as the he was hiding something.

"Its procedure, especially because she was the one Mrs. Edwards named as being the one the screaming belonged to. I just need to ask her a few questions, privately, about what she was doing tonight."

"Well she is in her room, the door on the left. The officers insisted on keeping her in there until you came, though I don't really see the point. Just please don't talk too long, she has school in the morning," Ann said cooperatively. Sean had once again become bruiting and silent.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I promise I won't take too long."

Olivia noticed that the door to the left of the living room had an officer lingering around it. She immediately dismissed him and took on last look at her notes before going into the girl's bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: **Ok so I haven't gotten any reviews, so if I don't get any then I am just going to end this story, so if you like the story please please please review and I'll keep working on it ******

The room was typical of a teenage girl. Picture of friends and posters of the latest boy bands that girls were obsessed with covered the pink walls. There were textbooks littered all over the floor that showed signs of repeated use. Olivia looked around the room until her sight rested on the figure of a petite, brunette girl sitting at her desk on her laptop. Olivia cleared her throat and the girl turned around.

She was wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Olivia thought the outfit was sort of unusual considering it was May and about 70 degrees out. She had deep blue eyes, so blue in fact that Olivia was dazed by them for a second, but she regained her composure and went into detective mode. She smiled and sat down on the bed that was against the far wall.

"Hi, I'm Detective Benson, but you can call me Olivia."

The girl instantly shifted uncomfortably in her seat the second she heard the word "detective" and hesitated before she answered,

"Hi, I'm Emily."

Olivia sighed internally, knowing that getting information from her was going to be like pulling teeth, but it was her job so she had no choice but to try.

"Emily huh? I've always liked that name. Well Emily, do you know why I'm here?"

"No," she answered rather flatly.

"Well, we received a call saying that someone was screaming, and Mrs. Edwards thought it was you, do you know anything about that?"

Olivia immediately saw Emily's body go rigid and her pupils double in size. She had no doubt now that it was in fact the girl screaming, but her intuition was not going to go far in making a case…she needed Emily to talk. From the frightened look on the girl's face, she was expecting her to break down crying and confirm everything Olivia was suspecting…her experience told her this is what was going to happen. Olivia was taken aback from what actually happened.

"I don't know anything about that…sorry."

"Ok…well where were you tonight?"

"I was home, with my step-dad."

"Huh, I see. Emily, has your step-dad ever done something that made you uncomfortable, or hurt you?

"NO! Please can you just leave me alone now!!!!"

Olivia was semi-shocked that Emily just denied everything. So she tried another approach.

"You know, you can tell me if someone is hurting you Emily. I'm here to help, and I'm a really good listener."

Emily lost all the confidence from her first response and her voice was very shaky

"I told you, no...nothing happened. I didn't hear anything, so can you pl…please stop asking me, I have a lot of homework."

Emily was almost shaking with fear now, but she was determined not to say anything, and Olivia knew she could not push the issue anymore…the girl had just completely shut her out. So she sighed and got up from the bed, took out a business card, and placed it on the desk, saying,

"Ok, but if you remember anything, or ever want to talk, here is my card. It has my cell phone number on the back, so call me anytime you need to."

Emily gave a very weak smile and "Ok" and after taking one last look at the teen, Olivia exited the room and went back into the living room.

"Ok, I think I have everything I need. I'm sorry to keep you up so late Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. If I have any other questions, I will call you," Olivia said slightly defeated.

"Thank you detective, have a good night," said Mrs. Sullivan politely.

Sean just glared at her from where he was sitting on the couch, and Olivia did not feel comfortable leaving Emily in the apartment with him, but she had no choice and slowly made her way down the stairs in order to make her way back to the precinct.


End file.
